Customer Reviews

Summer House (Center Point Platinum Fiction (Large Print))

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the main characters, Nona, Helen, and Charlotte. I liked the stories of Nona, the family's matriarch, and her husband as he served in WWII. I enjoyed daydreaming about their lives and adventures and how lovely it would be to summer, every year, on the island of Nantucket. I couldn't help but think of the Kennedy's, probably because Charlotte's alcoholic brother's name was Teddy. I didn't want the book to end. I've read too many, less than satisfying, "summer reads" that were mostly fluff and silliness with stereotypical characters and shallow story lines. Summer House, on the other hand, is not one of those books and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nancy Thayer gives us a nice, light beach read focusing on three women of the wealthy Wheelwright clan. The extended members of this upper-crust family all spend the summer together at the sprawling summer home of their matriarch Nona. With in-laws aplenty populating the house, tempers and long-seething jealousies are sure to flare as the reader is treated to a vicarious trip to a family reunion.

Nona is approaching 90 and enjoys having her son, her daughter, their children and grandchildren with her every summer. But as she becomes less mobile, she spends much time recalling the past and we are treated to the story of her falling in love with and marrying Herb, her now-deceased husband. Her favorite granddaughter, Charlotte, is now living with her permanently. A bit of a job-hopper, Charlotte has now found the one thing in life she wants to pursue as a career---she wants to be a gardener. With plenty of land on the estate, she grows vegetables and flowers which she sells daily at her market stand. Her happiness at having netted four thousand dollars the previous year does not sit well with her cousins who feel she is using her position as fair-haired grandchild to her advantage, though I'm never sure why this super-rich family begrudges her what must have been a piddling amount to them. Anyway, at 30, Charlotte is still unsure about love and has two interesting prospects over the course of the summer. She is also doing penance for a sexual dalliance in the past which still troubles her.

Charlotte's mother, Helen, is facing challenges of her own. When she learns of her husband's infidelity, she has major issues to face and contemplates divorce and freedom from this family. Over the course of the summer she must also plan a wedding for her gay son, Oliver, while trying to smooth over the relationship between her husband and Teddy, their youngest son. Teddy struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction and to add to that has brought home a fellow addict, now pregnant with his child.

It's everything readers might want in a family reunion---diverse characters, hidden agendas, sexual encounters, and questionable parentage. All in all, an enjoyable read perfect for a day on the beach.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know three generations of Wheelwright women: Anne, the matriarch (lovingly referred to as "Nona"), Helen, her daughter-in-law, and Charlotte, Helen's daughter. Grace, Nona's daughter, is a prominent but secondary character; Grace's children are also present but play very minor roles. We don't really get to know Grace and her children aside from their interactions with Helen and their cousins, and the glimpses we see are not flattering.

The story takes place at the family's summer house on Nantucket. The book is broken into parts by event, and each vignette sheds more light on the women and the family dynamics. Woven throughout are Nona's memories of her life as a young wife and mother.

It would be easy to characterize this book as mere fluff. Helen's children are non-conformists (horrifyingly so to this Eastern banking family) and Grace's children are whiny and dull. But beyond the easy stereotypes are women I can identify with: women who are far from perfect, trying to do their best day in and day out for themselves and for those they love. More importantly, Nona, Helen, and Charlotte own responsibility for the choices they have made.

Highly recommended!

The wealthy Wheelwright family meets each summer at their home on Nantucket. Matriarch Anne (called Nona by everyone) lives there year-round along with her LPN/housekeeper, Glorious. Nona's granddaughter Charlotte also lives there and maintains a prosperous organic garden. The men (who all work for the family-owned bank in Boston) commute to the island on the weekends while their wives and children move in for the season. This creates an opportunity for plenty of interesting interactions. I enjoyed reading about the multigenerational relationships.

I like Nancy Thayer's writing. I think she is spot on with her portrayal of extended family dynamics. I come from a large family and I easily related to a few things. Importance is given to the issues involving each main character - and they're all dealing with some personal struggle.

Thirty-year-old Charlotte isn't taken seriously by her family and she feels pressured to settle down and marry the right man. Her mother Helen has just discovered a betrayal and is trying to figure out what to do. Nona is feeling every bit of her ninety years. Her days consist mostly of trying to avoid family strife. She dozes during the day and dreams about things that happened in her life (which fills in a lot of family background for the reader). She's not looking forward to Family Meeting - the annual discussion of family investments, etc. that usually results in disagreements. And then there's the relationship between Helen's youngest child Teddy and his father. Worth refuses to believe that Teddy has changed his errant ways. As the book progresses, secrets are revealed and some are life-changing.

Summer House is exactly what I love a novel to be - I found it almost impossible to put down. I recommend it to any fan of Women's Fiction and anyone looking for a good book to read on vacation (or any other time).

The Wheelwright's are an affluent Boston family. They meet up every summer at the family's Nantucket summer home, also the permanent residence of the family matriarch, Nona, and Charlotte, Nona's 30 year old granddaughter.

This summer the family really has something to celebrate: Nona's 90th birthday! Soon the quiet Nantucket house will be overflowing with family members, and with them comes extra family drama.

Summer House is told from the viewpoint of three generations of Wheelwright women: Nona Wheelwright, Helen Wheelwright, and Charlotte Wheelwright.

Nona Wheelwright is the oldest surviving member of the Wheelwright family. Her husband, Herb, passed away several years ago. Her days are spent reliving her youth. Through flashbacks, the reader catches a glimpse of her introduction to the Wheelwright family. Although her midwestern family was wealthy as well, Nona (known as Anne in her youth) had to work hard to be accepted into the family. Secrets she's kept for decades may change the family forever...for the good and and the bad.

Helen Wheelwright is married to Nona's oldest son, Worth. She's recently discovered he was having an affair, and spends the summer weeding through her thoughts as to what her future will hold.

Charlotte Wheelwright has finally found her passion: running an organic gardening business on her Grandma Nona's land. She's the free-spirit of the family. After attempting to join the family banking business without success, the Wheelwights agreed to allow Charlotte to take upon this endeavor. It also helped that she'd be caring for Grandma Nona, a task Nona's children hadn't been able to take upon themselves.

Three years later she's still at it and with a profit! When the older generation of Wheelwrights learn that Charlotte's "pet project" as bloomed into a profitable endeavor they want to put an end to it immediately. Although Charlotte pays her grandmother rent for the land she uses, her family thinks she is taking advantage of Nona's generosity.

Summer House contains everything you would want a summer book to have: love, deceit, drama, mystery. I loved that the story is relayed through the eyes of three different generations of family members. Each gives a different perspective on a situation. The Wheelwright family is a large one, and at first I got a little confused with all the differerent names. After long, it wasn't too difficult to distinguish between them as each has their own very distinctive personality.

This book was the perfect quick summer read for me; I read it in one afternoon alone. I appreciated Thayer's descriptive writing and in-depth characterization. You fall in love with each of the family members, despite their many flaws. I held great reverance for Nona--she was an incredibly selfless, inspiring woman.

So, be sure to pick up a copy of Summer House before you head out on your summer beach (or backard!) getaway. You won't regret it.

"Summer House" is not an unpleasant book... but it had too many characters, and too little actual focus. Two chapters into it, I had to sketch out a family tree, in order to keep all the relations straight -- and that is something the author should have provided. The story meanders through the lives of all these people, interestingly enough (I guess) but without much point, direction or energy. Only the writer's skill with words made this as readable as it was.

A wonderful book, a page turner. I read this in two days, did not want it to end. The storylines and characters are fantastic. You want to cheer, berate and cry all at once. Always enjoy a book with the Cape and Islands locale. Thank you Ms. Thayer.

With a title like Summer House: A Novel, this book could be just an ordinary beach read. But Nancy Thayer has transformed this story from light to deep in her multi-layered family drama.

The Wheelwrights of Boston, with an ancestral summer home on Nantucket, have traditions and a legacy; many who have married into the family have striven to live up to both with some difficulty. From the current matriarch Anne (Nona) down to the contemporary Wheelwrights, there are expectations and disappointments aplenty. And the bank that has sustained the family and employs family members is an institution in and of itself.

We follow the family members as they move from Boston to Nantucket and back again over the summer months. Interspersed within these pages is Anne's story, alternating with the current family saga; gradually we come to learn about secrets and betrayal that will impact the family for years to come.

Worth and Grace are the children of Anne and Herb (who is deceased); they compete and struggle to live up to the family traditions. Grace's husband Kellogg works in the bank, along with Worth. However, Worth's children have all declined to join in this family business, and Helen, Worth's wife, supports their children's individuality. Worth has more difficulty with their children's decisions.

In the months leading up to the summer highlighted in this book, Helen discovers a secret of Worth's that has the potential to unravel their marriage and their lives.

Meanwhile, Worth and Helen's daughter Charlotte has been living with Nona on the island, developing her environmentally friendly garden and selling the goods to the islanders. Son Oliver is planning to marry his partner Owen, and just as summer begins, son

Teddy--alcoholic/drug abusing troubled son--shows up with a pregnant Suzette.

Everyone is poised for drama as the months unfold.

Thayer has the ability to enthrall the reader, which is one reason I have enjoyed this book, and many of her others that I have read.

The characters were believable and flawed just enough that we could almost know them as real people. Definitely a five-star read.

Laurel-Rain Snow

Needing to escape from banking, thirty year old Charlotte Wheelwright leaves Boston to to stay on her nonagenarian grandma Nona's estate. Her family of bankers supports her move because everyone has been concerned about Nona living by herself as the elderly woman has been mumbling frequently about long ago events and people dead. To occupy herself Charlotte starts a garden.

Over the next few years she loves working the land with her only stress occurring when the family invades for the annual get together to discuss financial matters. Her garden begins to turn a profit as she sells some of her organically grown items. However, her white collar banking family objects to her selling her efforts as that is beneath the upper crust Brahmins that the Wheelwright clan believes they are. This summer they plan to make Charlotte stop as they once did her mom Helen, but she might have an ally in her mother who isangry with her spouse for cheating on her.She supports her daughter to do whatever she wants.

This tale is an interesting look at the wealthy upper class through the eyes of a rebel (with a cause). Charlotte has found happiness working her garden, which was acceptable for an affluent woman of leisure, but once she becomes a middle class peddler than everyone except Nona and mom turn on her. Image is everything to the Wheelwright clan. Although the plot is extremely thin with the conflict seemingly minor and most of the support characters unlikable snobs, fans of contemporary family drama will still want to read Nancy Thayer's SUMMER HOUSE.

Harriet Klausner

This is the second book I have read by Nancy Thayer, and I absolutely could not put it down. I first read Beachcombers which I also enjoyed, but Summer House kept me turning the pages. The characters were beautifully portrayed and I especially enjoyed when Nona reflected back to the first years of her marriage to Herb. I only write reviews when I enjoy a story so completely and this is definitely one of them.